San Diego Music Hall of Fame to welcome new class of inductees Saturday

When Jefferson Jay launched the San Diego Music Hall of Fame eight years ago, he was inspired by the San Diego Music Awards – but he also wanted his event to be nothing like it.

“The San Diego Music Awards – who we are occasionally conflated with because of both of our goals of honoring San Diego music and doing an annual event – they have kind of a party, a big huge raucous, fun party every year to give away the awards,” Jay said. “It’s a very social event.”

“I wanted to do something more serious and more museum-like,” he told Times of San Diego. “So our whole event is almost designed as kind of a counterpoint to the Music Awards.”

The Hall of Fame ceremony, Jay said, is one day a year where the San Diego music community can “come together and honor its legends, its heroes, share its history in a way that’s meaningful to the inductees and also the audience members.”

Jay, a singer-songwriter and musician who has released more than a dozen albums, moved to San Diego in 2000 to pursue a master’s degree in history at San Diego State University. That eventually set him on a path to becoming a fixture in the city’s music scene.

“I was fortunate to make some friends in the fine arts community in my first couple of years living here, and so I would go to events that they would throw. Sometimes I’d play music,” he said. “I was moved and impressed by the way the patrons pulled together to support the fine artists – the painters, the sculptors of the community.”

“From that point, I always wanted to do something to make life a bit more rewarding and maybe even a little more easy for musicians,” he said.

In 2018, Jay presented the first-ever San Diego Music Hall of Fame ceremony and the event has been held annually since, except in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal each year is to celebrate and pay homage to people who have enhanced the San Diego music scene in some form or fashion.

“It’s a pretty serious way to preserve our musical history, to share what’s happened here with the entire community,” Jay said of the ceremony. “There’s a lot that San Diegans have to be proud about in our musical traditions and I didn’t feel like, besides some individual journalists, there weren’t really a lot of folks doing what’s necessary to preserve stories like this and make sure that artists, fans and the community itself really can get to benefit and feel some of the regional pride that you should have when you live in such a talented community that’s had so many gifted artists over the years.”

Among the main criteria for induction into the Music Hall of Fame, Jay said, is service to the community.

“First and foremost, you need to have given of yourself in a large way to make San Diego music better. Almost every musician who is here 20, 30, 40 years does this, so there are many more worthy inductees than we’ve been able to get to,” Jay said. “We give special attention to people who, in addition to their own musical journey, have done things to lift up the entire community and other community members.”

Over the years, inductees have included not just musicians, but also educators, journalists, producers and instrument makers. The vetting process can take months, as Jay reaches out to members of the music community for their input regarding who is worthy for induction into the Hall.

“We always make sure that our classes reflect our community,” Jay said. “One of the beautiful things about San Diego is it’s a diverse community. There are people here from all over the country and the world, and all different kinds of backgrounds. We always want to make sure our classes represent the entire community as much as possible – as best you can with seven acts a year.”

“When it comes down to it … I want the San Diego Music Hall of Fame to not only be another great event this year, but to keep growing,” he said, adding that he envisions the Hall of Fame ceremony eventually being held each year in a special music-related venue.

“I ultimately would like to start the San Diego Museum of Music, which would have a home for the San Diego Music Hall of Fame in it,” he said. “Then boys and girls in the city who want to learn more about music and can’t make it all the way up to the fabulous Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad can go somewhere all about music and music history in our town.”

What: Seventh Annual San Diego Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
When: 6-10:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27. Induction ceremony begins at 7 pm.
Where: VISION: A Center for Spiritual Living, 4780 Mission Gorge Pl, Suite H, San Diego,
92120.
Who: The 2025 inductees are rockabilly artist Rosie Flores, alternative rocker John Reis,
jazz performer/producer Kamau Kenyatta, jazz bassist Bob Magnusson, all-female ‘80s punk band The Dinettes, music journalist Bart Mendoza and performer Eulogio “The Soul Man” Fos.
Tickets: $59.47-$108.55, depending on seating. Available at Eventbrite.com.